Cleo Edison Oliver, Playground Millionaire

Cleo Edison Oliver #1

by Sundee T. Frazier

Cleopatra Edison Oliver has always been an entrepreneur, just like her inspiration, successful businesswoman Fortune A. Davies. So when Cleo's fifth-grade teacher assigns her class a "Passion Project," Cleo comes up with her best business idea yet: the finest "tooth-pulling" company in town. With the help of her best friend Caylee, a Nerf gun, her dad's tablet, and her patented Persuasion Power, Cleo's Quick and Painless Tooth Removal Service starts to take off.

But even the best made plans, by the best CEOs, go awry sometimes. A minor barfing incident during a tooth-pulling operation causes Cleo to lose customers. Caylee, initially enthusiastic about the business, grows distant as Cleo neglects their friendship in lieu of getting more customers. And when a mean classmate makes fun of Cleo for being adopted, everything comes crashing down. Will she be able to rescue her business, salvage her friendship with Caylee, and discover that her true home has been here all along?

Genres: Realistic Fiction, Middle Grade, Adoption, Childrens, Fiction, African American, Friendship

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Nancy Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this because my grandkids were reading it for their One school-One book project. Sends a lot of good messages about choices, perseverance and relationships that can relate to the lives of a wide array of young readers.

[Yapha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleopatra Edison Oliver is a budding entrepreneur and rising 5th grader. She is in awe of Fortuna A. Davies, an Oprah-like business woman with her own talk show. Cleo is constantly coming up with new businesses and ideas, and they are often successful. From selling avocados off the tree in her yard to pulling teeth with a Nerf gun, Cleo's ideas draw a lot of attention. And she always donates part of her earnings to those who are less fortunate, just like her idol. She just needs to work on asking permission before she gets carried away. She also runs into some snags with her best friend Caylee when Cleo gets too excited. Cleo and her two brothers are all adopted, and it is still a touchy subject for Cleo. She is upset the her brothers know their birth mother and she doesn't. With a good heart and a quick mind, Cleo will inspire other girls to think of ways that they can start their own empires! Highly recommended for grades 2 & up.

[Shauna Yusko · Rating 4 out of 5]

3-5. Please be the start of a new series! Pair with Fletcher Family titles by Levy.

[Raina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this when I was a judge for the Washington State Book Awards, and it was a finalist that year. Fun romp revolving around a kid's aspiring entrepreneurship.

[Karin Teoba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleo Edison Oliver c.e.o by sundee T.frazier 224pages

Cleo is a creative but mischevious girl she gets inspired by a famous woman called Fortune.A. Davis. When Cleo got to fifth grade her teacher gave her a passion project. So she invented the tooth pulling business. With the help of her best friend Caylee, a Nerf gun, and her dad's tablet she got her business started until a barfing accident drove all her customers away she had to do what she could in the process her losing her friend was more difficult than anything.

I really like this book because it had all the emotions and excitement of the book there was a lot of drama but not a bad drama.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the surface, fifth grader Cleo Edison Oliver, has it going on. After all, she's smart, determined, brave, and filled with many great ideas about how to make money. Determined to follow in the footsteps of television personality, Fortune A. Davies, a successful businesswoman, Cleo sells avocadoes from the family's trees and even invents a nearly painless tooth removal system relying on her little brother's Nerf gun. Surely, she deserves credit for her great ideas. However, things often don't go quite as she expects them to go and sometimes she forgets to ask her parents for permission to use their things or breaks rules that land her into big trouble. What makes this book have lasting power, though, is the fact that she imagines that Fortune is her mother and how she reacts to a classmate's cruel taunts about her being adopted. Although she loves her parents and knows that they love her, she still wonders why her birth mother gave her up. Amid all the drama in her personal life and her determination to make her various business successful, she forgets to take note of the anguish of Caylee, her best friend, who is dealing with unwelcome changes in her own life. The characters here are well drawn, and readers will feel as though they know Cleo and her classmates quite well by the time the book concludes. As a side note, teachers would do well to heed the decision of Cleo's teacher, Mr. Boring, decision to forgo the usual Family Tree Project. While those projects might seem like such great ideas for youngsters to embrace their family history, for some adopted children or children with complicated family histories, they actually cause much pain and anxiety. Although this is not mentioned in the book, except subtly, it's something to consider when planning activities for the classroom. I hope the author will write additional books featuring this up-and-coming CEO. Despite her character flaws, she is might near irresistible.

[Amy Formanski Duffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're always on the hunt for quality books in the beginning reader/ early chapter book categories. It's tough to find engaging stories for that age group, let alone diverse ones. And here's Cleo, an African-American-Filipino 5th grade entrepreneur. She's bubbly, she's full of business ideas, and she's determined to follow in the footsteps of her idol, Fortune Davies. Fortune is a TV host mashup of Oprah and Suze Orman. So Cleo creates a tooth-pulling business for a school project. It's all fun and games until she neglects her best friend Caylee because she's so busy with her endeavors and the class bully makes fun of Cleo for being adopted. Yes, Cleo and her two brothers were all adopted by a white mom and an African American dad. Cleo's struggle to understand why her birth mom gave her up adds some depth to the story. This is an upbeat, fast-paced story with sympathetic diverse characters. We need more books that fit this description. Keep 'em coming, publishers!!!

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cleo idolizes a brilliant business woman and television star, Fortune A. Davis. Cleo’s initials even spell out CEO, so she is destined to become a business success, right? After several smaller schemes don’t pan out, she stumbles on to the perfect money making plan, charging kids to painlessly remove loose baby teeth with her brother’s Nerf gun. What could go wrong?

This realistic fiction story will appeal to middle grade readers with a like-able heroine, a crazy scheme with some gross out moments, and tender family and friendship themes throughout the story. Sundee T. Frazier has written a wonderful main character that I hope we will hear more about!

I would highly recommend this book for purchase to all public and school libraries.

[Salsabrarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleo aspires to be a successful business woman like her idol Fortune Davies who hosts an inspirational TV show. Cleo sells avocados from the family's tree, starts a quick-and-painless tooth-pulling business and even changes her middle name to Edison so her initials can be CEO. But it's not easy being in business especially when it becomes too much of a priority and complicated emotions cloud her vision. Cleo is a mixed-race child who is adopted into a diverse family. She has issues that are familiar to adoptees: she wonders why her mother left her, fantasizes that Fortune Davies is her mother; and is hurt when a girl teases her about being adopted. Cleo's parents are supportive throughout of their determined, feisty daughter. This is a welcome addition to diverse children's literature.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fresh fun book about a spunky girl whose mind is full of ideas in starting a business. From selling avocados to pulling teeth, Cleo will find a clever way to market her skills. Readers will cheer for Cleo as she deals with the ups and downs of life. Caring and supportive parents help Cleo and her brothers as they learn how to deal with issues of abandonment and self worth in a positive way. Along the journey, Cleo learns a thing or two about friendship and responsibility. A real treat!

[OWS Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Charming, funny, fast-paced realistic fiction, perfect for fans of Beverly Cleary, Julia Alvarez, Jennifer L. Holm, Jeanne Birdsall, Nikki Grimes, and similar writers. Cleo springs to life off the page - a whirlwind of energy and ideas - and her (mis)adventures will surely entertain. Highly recommended as a classroom readaloud or book club selection as there is ample material for discussion of what it means to be a good friend, what success looks like, etc.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cleo is the quintessential entrepreneur, always starting new businesses as a way to make money and emulate her idol, self-made business woman Fortune A Davies. She's also adopted, and working on coping with not knowing her birth mother. There is also the requisite best friend drama. It was a cute book.

[Sharie · Rating 4 out of 5]

She makes anything into a entrepreneurial opportunity! This is a short book for the amazing number of themes addressed within it.

Themes:
family
adoption & foster care
multiracial backgrounds
knowing you're worth something
friendship
divorce
fantastic, out-of-the-box teachers
right vs. wrong

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kind of lukewarm about this book.
Cleo is a young adoptee who has a passion for business. Her ideas in the book are comical, like her teeth removal business. The book was a little too sweet for me. Maybe I have been reading too many depressing books with major problem in the story.

Would like to see what others think of this story. I will be adding this to my collection at my library.

[Clare Rossetter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful tale of a very spunky fifth grader who comes up with a way to make money. Of course, all does not go smoothly but Cleo and her friends are great problem solvers. Students will enjoy her adventures at school. This even lends itself to a class read aloud with chapters that tell a tale and leave the student wanting to hear more.

[Joe Holman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me smile as it reminded me of my own money making enterprises growing up. The lead character is a handful - more so that I was...

There are a lot of age appropriate lessons to be learned in this book and that makes it a handy book for teachers and librarians to have available when those lessons need to be learned.

[Alexa Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good intro to a new series focused on entrepreneurship, which also manages to address adoption, economics in a family capacity, family dynamics and a host of other things without seeming jam-packed full of lessons. Cleo is a very dynamic, spunky character, except for her obsession with money.

[Andrea]

Qwerty but fun , a bit far fetched but what is fiction?! I like the side message of adoption and fitting in where you get in.

[Jacqui · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Julia Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

.

[Sara Truog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute and entertaining story about an enterprising elementary schooler. Very memorable scene at a park involving a tooth-pulling scheme and a bout of the flu.

[AMY · Rating 3 out of 5]

213 pages. Fifth grade story of a girl going into business. I read two chapters and it was pretty good. Recommended. I might read the whole thing later on…

[Emily Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. JFIC

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just an interesting little story. Not really impressed. Not sure I like the money-centered personality of the main character.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a bit torn on this book. There are issues in this story that I found unsettling due to choices Cleo makes as she tries to be a successful business woman despite being in 5th grade. She is not so great at listening to her friends, parents, or teachers guidance and feelings as she plows forward with her idea of a tooth removal business using a Nerf gun she brings to school. Obvious consequences follow through fairly well, but that is not my connection to this book. The vocabulary for building budding entrepreneurs, the attachments I fear for children watching TV programs, and using the internet without supervision is what captured me. There is so much valuable vocabulary and the connections to how media may affect people with powers of persuasion, obsession, and connection are unsurpassed by any other book I have read. This book has some major issues: adoption is not just about love, but also about loss. Divorce and new families extending your family affects kids at their souls and is sometimes overpowering. We all need people in our lives to recognize our battles and help us move forward despite them. Teachers who read this book are likely to realize some of the traditional projects, like family trees, inherently involve big feelings and possibly some outbursts from students who have more than one tree to create. Giving adults and children a chance to express their thoughts on how Cleo handles her feelings about the woman who gave her up for adoption and her adoptive family and how Caylee handles her father leaving and starting a new family and where that leaves her are important conversations. I love how Cleo grows in this story and begins to recognize her business dreams may affect others.

I will forever believe that how students grow in this world is helped along by books with issues. Characters having issues allows us to build compassion, empathy, and may help us to handle our own baggage in better and kinder ways.

[Linnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

A KRITIQUE KLUB OFFICIAL REVIEW
By Vivien M. Ryder

Author: Sundee T. Frazier
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic inc. 2016
Editor: Arthur Levine
Agent: Regina Brooks
Overall Points: 3-- Really Bad

Summary: Cleo loves money and wants to be a millionaire-- just like her favorite role model Fortune A. Davies. But Cleo gets a little carried awayy.... and lets her money-making get i the way of her friendship.

Vivien's Take:

Okay... so, where to start? There are SO many things wrong with this book. First of all, though it was in the kids room at the library, it should have been with the Easy Readers as far as plot goes. Sure, it is awful to want money, friends, and to stop being teased for being adopted, but did you have to write a book about all these things combined? Answer: Apparently not! It just didn't work. At all. Not even a smidgen. Next, it would be nice if the character was likable. Maybe we could sympathize with her a bit? But no, Cleo is an impulsive, selfish, ignorant dummy who cares more about money more than their family or friends. It is really sad that this one little girl is worse than a ton of rich adults today.

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[Amy Beth McPherson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. For about fourth or fifth graders. It was a book for all elementary school students in our school district. Had some trigger issues, about a girl who is adopted out of foster care and feeling a whole or not good enough, like she was rejected by her birth mother. Also fantasizes that her hero is really her birth mom. I cried in one chapter. A little intense for kindergarten and first graders to be read. We would’ve read it much faster, but one chapter per day was assigned. In the last chapter it does a great job teaching how to be a good friend.

[Phaedra Boyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it with my school for our One School One Book program. Book addresses adoption, friendship, and entrepreneurship, among other things. Thanks #VAReadsOneBook #ReadtoThem

[Ashley Lanners · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think this is absolutely aweful. Would give it zero.

[Maria Burnham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. It was the one district one book selection. Parts of it were really good, but overall it was a mediocre reading experience for us.